California Archives

January 23, 2020 Orchid and Tropical Bonsai Show, How To Grow Microgreens, John Drayton, Edouard Manet, Agoston Haraszthy, Pierre Joseph Lenne, Al Schneider, Peggy Lyon, January by John Updike, The Cabaret of Plants by Richard Mabey, Owl Planters, and Elizabeth Lawrence

Today we celebrate the amateur botanist who was a two-time governor of South Carolina and the birthday of a French modernist painter who left peonies. We’ll learn about the man who brought European grapes to California and the most important Prussian garden-artist of the 19th century. Today’s Unearthed Words feature a poem about January. We…

Sara Plummer Lemmon

The Golden Poppy Today is the anniversary of the death of Sara Plummer Lemmon. Lemmon is remembered for her successful 1903 piece of legislation that nominated the golden poppy (Eschscholzia californica) as the state flower of California. Asa Gray named the genus Plummera in honor of Sara Plummer Lemmon. Plummera is yellow wildflowers in the…

January 15, 2020 Scent in the Winter Garden, Top British Garden Shows, William Starling Sullivant, Nathaniel Lord Britton, Frances Benjamin Johnston, Sarah Plummer lemon, Cultivating Delight by Diane Ackerman, Buffalo Plaid Garden Apron, and The British Museum

Today we celebrate a bryologist who Asa Gray called, “a noble fellow” and the botanist who, along with his wife, helped found the New York Botanic Garden in the Bronx. We’ll learn about one of the first and most prolific professional female garden photographers and the female botanist with a mountain named in her honor.…

January 8, 2020 Dogwood Days, 5 Flower Trends for 2020, Coffee House Ban, Alfred Wallace, Jac P. Thijsse, Harold Hillier, January One-Liners, Houseplants by Lisa Steinkopf, Coloring Fibonacci, and Walter Tennyson Swingle

Today we celebrate the ending of the 1675 coffee shop ban in England and the birthday of a man who devised his own theory of evolution independently of Charles Darwin. We’ll learn about one of the fiercest Dutch conservationists and the nurseryman who created the world’s most excellent arboretum. Today’s Unearthed Words feature fabulous one-liners…

John Gill (“J.G.”) Lemmon

Lemmon and Wife Today is the birthday of the botanist John Gill (“J.G.”) Lemmon. Lemmon and his wife, Sara Plummer Lemmon, were both botanists. Although Sara partnered equally with her husband on their botanical work, their papers were always published with the credentials “J.G. Lemmon & Wife.” The Lemmons had found each other late in…

January 2, 2020 Amy Martin Woodland Garden Design, Louis Benech Normandy Retreat, Saint Adelard, Carl Linnaeus, Franscisco Marin, JG Lemmon, Rhodora, Minnie Aumonier, Leaf Supply by Lauren Camilleri & Sophia Kaplan, Tin Organizer, and the Discovery of the Winter Home of the Monarch

Today we celebrate the Feast Day of a gardener Abbott and an important day in the life of the Father of Taxonomy. We’ll learn about the man who planted the first pineapple in Hawaii on this day in 1813 and the botanist who shared a train with a President during his honeymoon to the Santa…

The Shasta Snow-Wreath: A California Rare Plant Discovered in 1992

“Before 1992, researchers studying Lake Shasta salamanders were familiar with the plant, but they didn’t know it was a rare plant or that it had not yet been discovered.” December 11, 1992 On this day, California newspapers reported that botanists had discovered a new plant in California with a delightfully charming common name – the…

Martin Sesse

A Royal Botanist Today is the birthday of the Spanish botanist Martin Sesse who was born on this day in 1751. King Carlos III charged Sesse with identifying, classifying, and illustrating all of the plant species throughout New Spain. This was a tremendous request. But Sesse was the man for the job. He was excellent…

December 11, 2019 Chinese Witch Hazel, Oca & Mashua Tubers, College Glen, Martin Sesse, Jacob Schneck, Victor Lemoine, Fiorello LaGuardia, Countertop Gardens by Shelley Levis, Galison Butterfly Puzzle, and the Shasta Snow-Wreath

Today we celebrate the Spanish botanist who tackled the area known as New Spain and the man who discovered the Schneck Oak. We’ll learn about the French botanist who made many of our blooms bigger and better and the mayor who was known as the Little Flower. We’ll hear some thoughts about Winter and how…

Howard Scott Gentry

Agave Knowledge Today is the birthday of Howard Scott Gentry who was born on this day in 1903. A 1982 newspaper article shared a great story about Howard, saying: “This elder statesman of the botanical world [is] a first-class charmer when you get …. to his subject;… his love for the wilds of Sonora and…

December 10, 2019 Wild about Weeds, Botany at the Bar, Sweet Potatoes, Emily Dickinson, Howard Scott Gentry, Joseph Dalton Hooker, Carl English, A Year in Our Gardens by Nancy Goodwin and Allen Lacy, Herb Drier, and The Ungrateful Garden

Today we celebrate the gardener poet known for writing “hope is the thing with feathers”, and the man who became the world authority on agaves. We’ll learn about the Victorian botanist who was the first to speak in favor of Darwin’s theory and the man who created the Ballard Lock Garden in Seattle. We’ll hear…

Henry Welsh

Sun-Maid Raisins Today is the birthday of the California oilman, vineyardist, and attorney Henry Welsh who was born on this day in 1856. In 1912, California raisin growers, including Welsh, decided to band together to sell their raisins as a group. The plan was to create a million-dollar corporation, and the concept drove Welsh to…

December 5, 2019 An Economic History of Gardening, Bee Exhibit, Stinging Nettles, Henry Welsh, Michael Bebb, Charles Robinson, McDonogh Tree, Garlic, Onion, and Other Alliums by Ellen Spector Platt, Garden Stakes, and Monet

Today we celebrate a wealthy vineyardist who came up with the idea for a raisin coop and the willow expert raised in beautiful gardens. We’ll learn about the botanist who was murdered thanks to miscommunication and the oldest tree in New Orleans. We’ll hear a garden poem about being shut out of the garden. We…

August Henry Kramer

Watercolor Flowers On this day in 1989, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch shared an incredible story called Buried Blossoms by Patricia Rice, which shared the story of the long lost work of the botanist August Henry Kramer. “After 40 years in basements, [Kramer’s] collection of 493 botanical watercolors was scrutinized by two local art appraisers. You…